Brazil: A Country For Everybody (Except If You're Poor)

Violations of basic human rights are happening in Rio de Janeiro preparations for the Olympic Games

By Bruno Gomes and Lisiane Bauer

The preparations for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games are taking place in the city – there is a lot to be done and a minimal part of the structure is ready. The Games will happen only in five years from now, but the government has already begun to work on the infrastructure – maybe trying to avoid the same problems that are happening in the work for the 2014 World Cup (which is really late).

In a general view, there is nothing wrong with that. The politicians are working together, the plan is being followed without any scandal... A true miracle. However, a report from Amnesty International showed that it is too good to be real. The poor people who live in the favelas are being evicted with an irrelevant governmental help. According to Amnesty International, the State is using the police power (which should protect them) and the violence to get these people out of the way.

A BBC report (“Rio Olympics: Favela poor evicted as city spruced up”, 06/30/2011) shows that the problem is even bigger: it says that at least one thousand people were expelled from their homes and that they only got R$ 8,000 from the State (a ridiculous amount which does not allow the buying of a new house). It is clearly a total violation of the human rights and a fresh chapter on the unpaired class struggle that has happened in Brazil since forever.